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VARIABLE ROUTES. "Considerable variation has been documented in the orientation of migratory routes (e.g., across years for individual wood thrushes; within populations of humpback whales; and between populations of monarch butterflies." https://lnkd.in/dWFycUQ View in LinkedIn

MIGRATIONS of birds, Monarch butterflies, Painted Lady butterflies, hummingbirds, salmon, wildebeest, whales, and other creatures almost always requires that the journey map and final destination coordinates are somehow passed to the next generation without social learning, and passed inheritable from one generation to another, often with extreme specificity for locations. https://lnkd.in/djNBZc5 View in LinkedIn

MIGRATIONAL PLASTICITY. "A strong evolutionary reduction of migratory activity has been observed in a blackcap population, presumably in response to climate change. These results suggest that the evolution of migratory behaviour in a resident population or of residency in a migratory population may be a common and rapid process." http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/02/11/rspb.2010.2567 View in LinkedIn

SONG OF DARWIN. "The more I study nature, the more I become impressed […] that the contrivances and beautiful adaptations [acquired through natural selection] transcend in an incomparable degree [those] which the most fertile imagination of the most imaginative man could suggest with unlimited time at his disposal." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982214003881 View in LinkedIn

MIGRATORY PATH AND GENES. "Many components of migratory behaviour, such as the amount, timing and intensity of migratory activity, are under strong genetic control, at least in small night-migrating passerines. Also cross-breeding experiments among groups of European blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) that differed in migratory behaviour indicated a strong genetic basis of this behaviour." http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/02/11/rspb.2010.2567 View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE deals with the genetics of the sense of place for this and next weekend. Frustrating, illusive, and challenging characterizes the hunt for migratory genes. But the physical gene itself is only the start. How can a string of nucleotides communicate a journey and a destination? And time after time to millions of creatures, and be plastic enough to modify as the climate changes? A challenge perhaps beyond our capacity to seriously consider. At least, for now. View in LinkedIn

PHYSIOLOGICAL PREPAREDNESS. "Migratory disposition, i.e. a state of readiness for prolonged flights, comprises hypertrophy of flight muscles, fat deposition in the adipose tissue, integrated changes in enzyme activities involved in the energy metabolism, hyperphagia, dietary changes and the development of migratory activity." http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/02/11/rspb.2010.2567 View in LinkedIn

MOLECULAR BOT. "Kyle Lund’s robot (which he does actually call a spider) can move about completely of its own accord. Its program is completely written into its landscape. The spider’s body is a molecule called streptavidin and each of its legs are single-stranded ‘DNAzymes’ – one half of the famous double helix, with the added ability to cut other DNA strands. In doing so, it shortens the length of any strand that it happens to walk on." http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6198/795 View in LinkedIn

BODILY AND BEHAVIORAL CHANGES. "Before and during migration, migratory birds undergo a profound and synchronized shift in a set of physiological adaptations and behavioural traits." http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/02/11/rspb.2010.2567 View in LinkedIn

CONTEXTUAL PROGRAMMING. "The two robots are the stars of two new papers that describe the latest advances in making independent, programmable nano-scale robots out of individual molecules. The two new studies have solved this problem by programming the robots’ actions into their environment rather than their bodies." http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6198/795 View in LinkedIn